Infrared cameras and various types of systems incorporating an infrared camera are well known and applied in a wide variety of applications to view and/or record images. A typical application of an infrared camera system is to provide surveillance, such as for perimeter and facility security, or general area awareness of a given area, such as to provide enhanced visibility for a driver or other occupant of a vehicle.
A conventional infrared camera system implementation may have a number of potential drawbacks. For example, it may be desirable to incorporate an infrared camera system into various types of vehicles, with a typical approach being to include the infrared camera system as a separate module to be secured independently to the vehicle. However, this may not be desirable for various reasons, including vehicle design considerations, aesthetics, or space issues.
An alternative conventional approach may be to replace a component of the vehicle with a similar component that is configured to allow the infrared camera system to be externally attached. As a specific example, the infrared camera system may be designed to attach to a common component (e.g., a brake light) whose general design may vary from one type of vehicle to the next. However, this approach of attaching the infrared camera system to the component, such as “add-on equipment” to existing hardware, may be costly in terms of complexity to account for the various component designs and/or in terms of the amount of space required and associated expenses.
As a result, there is a need for improved techniques for integrating an infrared camera system into a vehicle.